But she'd learned to love her boys bitter
by gonegirlmyself
Summary: "And don't worry, sweetheart, I ain't gonna tell Dal about this…" Sylvia starts hanging onto Johnny, and Steve has something to say about it. Part I/II. Sylvia POV, cause the ladies need a voice too. One-shot.


Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders, and any of these fabulous characters. It's all S.E. Hinton.

She should have spotted Randle sauntering his way over to her as she traced a finger teasingly down the quiet kid's shoulder, her breath practically warming his neck.  
It wasn't like Steve's prissy hair was hard to miss. He probably spent more time on it than he did getting laid, if her conversations with Evie were any indication.

But Sylvia was too distracted by the boy in front of her. She had him cornered and could feel the faint outlines of his discomfort at their closing proximity, but Johnny Cade was too polite to say anything.

He was nothing like Dally, she had quickly decided, so why was that mean bastard she called hers so smitten with him?

Sylvia tried to imagine Cade throwing her down roughly onto a bed, ripping her shirt off without pretense, and smirking arrogantly at her pleasure.  
The image didn't fit right in her head.

Still, Dally was gone (again), and Johnny was here.  
He was a different challenge than Dally and boys like him, but Sylvia never did like anything to come to her too easily.

She was like Dally that way.  
Dally knew it too.

Only…

Dally Winston was unpredictable when it came to Johnny Cade. Sylvia had known it for a while. She'd seen it in the little things he'd do for him without even realizing it.  
They're things he'd never do for her.

The realization made her involuntarily bitter, though she'd never let it show.

Maybe that's why she was standing in front of Cade right now instead of someone else.

"You lose somethin' you think Johnny here can help you find, Sylvia?" Randle's ringing voice broke the moment.  
If he had spat those words anymore indignantly, she would have visibly cringed in aggravation.

Sylvia liked him about as much as he liked her.

He stood there, eyes boring into her, with a thumb hitched in his pocket and a toothpick sticking out the corner of his smug mouth.  
The quiet kid shifted his weight from one foot to another, looking even more uncomfortable than he had been a second ago.

"What's it to you, Randle? Boy, I hope you don't sweet talk Evie with that tone you're so fond of usin' on me," Sylvia countered with a catlike smirk that feigned innocence.

One thing she learned from going around with Dally was that it wasn't hard to get under Steve Randle's skin.  
Just like it wasn't hard to get Sodapop drunk, or Two-Bit squawking like a bird.

Steve grabbed the toothpick from his mouth and in one swift motion, threw it sharply at her kitten heels.  
Johnny stared at his friend with wide eyes, unsure of what the situation called for.

"If you were leanin' in any closer to the kid, I'd start to get ideas. An' I ain't sure how Dall would feel about it. You know…his girl gettin' all cozy with his buddy."  
"I dunno what the hell you're talkin' about, Steve," Sylvia said as flatly as she could manage. Still, she couldn't keep acidity from seeping into her voice.

Feeling guilty about walking out on Dallas Winston was about the stupidest thing any girl could do.

The only things Dally did with any real commitment were fight, fuck and make a good exit.

Yet she always went back, and he always took her.

Their game was a little different.

She had learned the game a long time ago, as soon as she figured out that boys weren't as fond of hearing her talk as they were of looking at her tits.

 _They love you and they leave you, so you gotta love 'em and leave 'em first.  
But not before using up all their toys.  
_  
But Dally'd fuck her and leave her and she'd do the same to him. Over and over and over again.

It's something that Steve Randle had never bothered to understand.

Yeah, she wasn't sure how Dal would feel about this. Maybe that's what drove her towards Cade.

If it had been anyone else but Johnny, Sylvia could expect an outburst, threats, and a fist flying towards the guy's face. Dally'd take his class ring back. She'd storm out.

And then she'd come back, look up at him with doe eyes and wrap an arm around his waist, and he'd let her. 'Cause he knew she was the only one who could keep things interesting for him, and he did the same for her.

But what if it was her and Johnny?

Sylvia had always reckoned they'd somehow find their way to each other's beds until they hated each other more than they enjoyed playing cat and mouse—until one day it wasn't enough for the both of them.

Yet, it seemed funny to her, even now, that she dreaded that day more than she welcomed it.

She couldn't let her hesitancy show on her face.

"C'mon, Steve, it ain't like that. She was just talkin', is all," Johnny said in a low voice.  
"Yeah, _Steve,_ can't a girl talk to the boy without y'all gettin' bent outta shape?" Sylvia mocked.

Steve peeled his eyes towards his friend for a moment before turning back to her.

"Wanna enlighten me on what you wanted to talk to Johnny about? Or are you gonna drop the Sunday school act, Sylvia?"

The bottle blonde shot Steve a venomous glare meant to cut.  
But the stubborn bastard just kept glaring right back.

There was a tense silence that made her fidgety.

She wished it had been anyone else but Randle in front of her.

Sodapop would have pretended he didn't see anything, for propriety's sake, and led the quiet boy away from her with a half-hearted smile shot in her direction.  
Maybe he'd even make small talk just to be saying something.

Two-Bit would have draped an arm over Johnny and thrown some half-ass wisecrack before breaking out into a cheesy grin. He'd throw her a veiled warning, to be sure, out of earshot from Cade, but it wouldn't make her nearly as aggravated as facing Randle's bitter mug.

He was blunt in a way she recognized and admired in Dally, and hated in everyone else.

Steve tilted his head to Johnny and hitched a thumb towards the door.  
"Ponyboy and Soda're outside. Kid was waitin' for you."

Sylvia looked past Steve to faintly see Soda leaning in someone's car window while his kid brother smoked like a chimney next to him.  
They looked none the wiser to what was happening inside.

Johnny seemed to get the message.  
He beat it out of there as quickly as he could, fists still jammed in his pockets.

But Steve just stood there, glaring.

"You plannin' on kissin' me or lecturin' me, Randle?" Sylvia asked, crossing her arms to face the arrogant prowler.

Steve's mouth twisted into a sour grin. "You ain't worth either."

His words were vinegar.

Sylvia thought about smacking that look off his face but decided against it. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

"And don't worry, _sweetheart_ , I ain't gonna tell Dal about this…"

 _Go ahead_ , Sylvia thought. _My curiosity is starting to get the better of me._  
 _I wanna see if he'd come back this time._  
 _I wanna see, just once, if he's capable of feeling for me something more than craving._

"What's to tell, Randle? You didn't see nothin'," She defended.

He chuckled insolently and popped the collar of his vest up, taking a step towards her.  
She instinctively dropped her arms to her side and tensed.

"I won't tell Dally," he persisted, "but I'm warnin' you," and he pointed a finger to her chest for emphasis, "you even think about gettin' near Johnny again an' tryin' any of your tricks, an' I'll personally beat the tar out of you, dig?"

She glared at him with involuntary shock written on her face, but said nothing, though in her silence she was seething.  
He must have been satisfied with her lack of response because he turned away pointedly and stalked off, cocksure as ever.

Sylvia inched towards the windows and watched as Randle lit up a cigarette and scuffed his sneaker on the pavement.  
Sodapop strolled towards him, punching him affectionately on the arm as Steve began barking about something.

About her, no doubt.

It seemed funny to her that boys only liked the game when girls weren't playing it.

Johnny and the other kid stood a little farther out listening in on his ranting.

 _They're all so unpredictable when it comes to Johnny Cade that it's predictable._

Suddenly, she was thankful for Steve cutting in when he did, even if she wished she'd been able to claw that arrogant smirk off his face.

Sylvia had always loved Dally more than she hated him.

She was better off with him never knowing she'd tried anything with the Cade kid.

Somehow she knew that if he did, their game would end, once and for all.

And Sylvia Richards wasn't ready for it to end.

She smiled coldly before turning away from the scene.  
Johnny Cade was sweet. Sweeter than the boys she was used too.

But she'd learned to love her boys bitter.


End file.
